Internal-combustion engine.



FATBNTED JAN. 7, 1908.

E. STUKB.

GOMBSTGN ENGNE.

mummy NLM; Am u,

No. 875,885. PATNNTBD JAN. 7, 1908. E. STUKE.

INTBNNAL GOMBUSTION ENGINE.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

APPLICATION FILED APR 11.1907.

' gines, and while intended ERNEST STUKE, OF MERIDIAN, MSSISSIPPI.

INTERNAL-00MB USTION ENGINE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 7, 1908.

Application filed April ll. 1907. Serial No. 362.605.

To ctt whom it lmay concern:

Be it known that l, ERNEST STUKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Meridian, in the county of Lauderdale and State of Mississippi, have invented a new and useful Internal-Combustion Engine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to reciproca-tory enapplication to engines of bustion t pe, may be used to advantage in engines tiat are operated by steam, lcompressed air or other fluid under pressure.

One of the principal objects of the invention is to provide an engine of this type in which the force due to the eirplosion of the charge may he utilized to better advantage than in ordinary engines. In internal coinbustion engines of the ordinary construction, the explosion takes place at the end of the compression stroke, and while thecrank is practically on dead center, and has therefore .the lowest leverage force, while in carrying out the present invention the explosion is made to occur after the crank has passed a considerable distance beyond the dead center, and is in position to exert nearly its greatest leverage on the shaft.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel form of engine of the single cylinder two piston type, wherein the positions of the pistons alternate as regards the completion of the inward stroke, tlpat is to say each piston travels alternately io a position about inid-way of the while the other piston, which forn'is the op posite side of the explosion chamber, is at a predetermined` distance from the central position after the explosion occurs.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an engine of this construction in which the two diametrically opposed crank pins of a crank shaft are connected to two reciprocatory pistons through the medium of connectin rods that are constantly at an angle to each other, so that it is impossible for both pins and rods to move to a dead center.

With these and other objects in view, as

will more fully hereinafter appear, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proi moreespecially lfor, the internal oom-y length of the cylinder,

portions, size and minor details ofthe structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

ln the accompanying drawings -Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of 'an internal coinbus'- tion engine constructed in accordance with the invention. Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are sectional views in the natures of diagrams, illustrating difl'erentpositions of the pistons, cranks and connections Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding arts throughout the several figures of the rawmgs.

` The engine shown is of the four cycle type,

and is provided with a suitable cylinder 10 of uniform diameter throughoutits length and open at both ends. The cylinder is mounted on a suitable frame 11 ine's for a shaft 12, the shaft being horizontally disposed at a point directly in the vertical plane of the center of the length of the cylinder, and preferably below the cylinder as shown, although, of course, the parts may be reversed in order to mount a shaft above the cylinder, if

having beardesired. The frame is further provided with a pair of arms or brackl ets 12 'forming supports for portions of the power transmitting mechanism, as herein` after described. The c linder is preferably surrounded by a suita le water jacket or other cooling device, and may be rovided with any of the ordinary inlet va ves, discharge valves, and igniting devices, this portion of the device being of any well known character, and forming no part of the present invention.

-Arranged in the cylinder are two pistons 15 and 16 of the trunk ty e, and these pistons are connected by rocs 17 and 18, respectively, with pins 19 and 20 that are hung from the brackets 12 by a pair o f links 21 and 22.

Arranged on the crank shaft are two diai'netrically opposed cranks carrying pins 23,' 24 which are connected to the pins 19 and 20, respectively, by rods 25 and 26, these rods being arranged constantly in angular relation to each other, so that it is impossible for the rods and crank pins to be in precisely the same lane, and, therefore, on dead center.

In lfig. 2 the arts are shown in the position assumed w en the charge is ignited, it being noted that the working face of the piston 16 is then at a point midway ofthe length of the'cylinder, and in the vertical planefof'the-axis of the shaft, while the workl lng face of the piston if. moved outward, its corresponding crank pin having moved 5,v 'somethin less than an eighth ofa revolution "gif: fromthe orZOntal. This movement of the l crank pin, however, is considerably more than visnecessary to carryit be ond the dead center, that is to say, the poin at which the vU.) axisof. the crank pin, the axis of the shaft, 1 and theaxis of the pin 19 are all in alinement, and the crank pin is, therefore, in a position 4to exert its greatestleverage force on the crank shaft, and will continue to exert this 15 force gradually increasing power until --the pin reaches.' a position ninety degrees from the dead center position before menv ,tioned, andthereafter through the descend- 'Ling1 arc to the opposite dead center will exert gradually-decreasing force, The movement under" the greatest power, however, carries the opposite crank pin 24 beyond its ldead center, and as the piston 16 is moved outward under the force of the lsame explosion, the leverage force of the crankpin 24 will gradually increase through its iirst arc of ninety degrees, so lthat instead of exerting the eatest power on the piston while the cra is on dead center as is lusually the case, the power is? exertedwhen the crank is in a positionmost favorable. for transmitting forcev to the crank shaft. By the time the pistons position shown in Fig. .3, the piston 15 will he :".35 atthe limit of its 'out stroke, while the piston '16 hasnot iinished its out stroke, the correspending crank pin 24 of said piston still-having an-aroof about thirty degrees to traverse and, durin this movement, the final pressure .-140 of the exp oded charge aotingon the piston '.land crank pin 24 will serve to carry the pin 23 beyond the dead center, the'parts then moving approximately to the position shown F' 1. When arrived at this position, 5 fthe plston- 15 is still traveling inward, while I .the piston 16 is still movinvloutward, and it .not until the axis of t` e .crank pin 24 reaches the common planeof the axis 'of 'shaft 12 andpin 20 that the outward move- .movementstarts Both' pistons then move inward, the p iston 15-traveling faster than the piston 1,6 VA'and by the time the crank pins have reached the positions shown in Fig. 4,

the working face' ofthe piston 15 will have ,reached thel centernof the length of the cylinhave assumed the Lmentj ofthe pistonl-s-tops and its inward my own, l have hereto affixed my signature der, and the products of combustion will have been expelled. Duringv the next out or suction stroke, the piston 16 will follow the piston 15 for a short distance, and then both' pistons will move outward in order to create a partialvacuum between them, and thus draw in the charge'. At the return or compression stroke, the piston 16 will arrive at the mid-position shown in Fig. 2, and then the explosion will occur, this cycle of operatilon being repeated so long as fuel is supie p-One of the principal advantages gained isv that the explosive force operates on the piston when the crank of that piston is a position most favorable for the .transmission of power.' Another advantage is that the volume-of the cylinder is kept less than the volume of either a single or double piston engine of the ordinary type, diameters-being equal, for the reason that the working faces of the pistons are never separated a distance equal to double the distance between the two crank pins, which results in a considerable reduction in the quantity of fuel used,

1 claim In an engine', a cylinder open at both ends and provided with an inlet' port mid-way of said ends, a supporting fra-ine for the cylinder, a pair of trunk pistonsdisposed in the cylinder, a crank shaft journaled in the frame and having its axis in a vertical plane that extends through the center of thecylinder, a pair of diametrically opposed crank pins carried bythe shaft, arms projecting from the frame, a pair of swinging links connected to said arms,vpitman rods extending from the crank pins to the free ends of the links, and a pair of piston rods extending fr omthe pistons and pivotally connected to the links a-t a point adjacent to the connection between the links and pitman rods, the pitman rod connectionswith the crank pins being at such an angle as to prevent the rods assuming whereby the trunk pistons will travel in op- A posite directions, respectively, during the greater portion of the stroke, and in the same direction at each end of the stroke.

In testimony that l claim the foregoing as witnesses.

R. A. EMMONS. BRAswELL..

in the presence of two 

